Improvement in fruit-can tongs



UNITED STATES PATENT GEEICE.

ABEL T. ATHERTON, OF LOWELL, MASSAOHUSETTS,`ASSIGNOB TO HIMSELF AND FITZ HENRY WINTER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FRUIT-CAN TONGS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,912, dated October 17, 1871.

To all whom t 'may concern:

Be it known that I, ABEL T. ATEERTON, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Oommonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in FrnitOan Tongs, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of the combination of two movable jaws with a pair of tongs of the kind commonly in use, whereby the fruit-camor jar can be withdrawn om the water after being in a condition to seal up, and also held firmly while the cap or cover is being placed on said can or jar, without danger of burning the hands dnrin g the operation of sealing.

The accompanying drawing represents my invention when in operation.

A A are the two arms of a pair of tongs pivoted at E. B B are two movable concave jaws working loosely on the pivots D D, said pivots being near the end of the tongs remote from the arms A A. C O are two pieces of rubber or other friction-producing material, and are at-V tached to the jaws B B.

The operation of the tongs is as follows: The jaws B B are placed in contact with the can or jar as represented, and, by the operation of the hand upon the arms A A, the jaws B B are comall' pressed against the jar, and by means of which the jar is withdrawn from the water. The jar is then placed upon the table, and is firmly held, while the cap is being placed thereon, by retaining the compression upon the jar and moving the arms A A so that the same shall be at right angles to the jar.

By means of my invention all danger of scalding or burning of the hands during the operation of canning fruit, 86o., is avoided.

I do not confine myself to the peculiar shape of the jaws as herein shown and described, as iat jaws may be made having fastened to the same pieces of rubber, Ste., dat on one side and concave on the other side.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The tongs, for handling and holding fruit-cans and jars, having the pivoted vertically self-suspending' jaws B B with the concave India-rubber or soft frictional inner surfaces, substantially as herein specified, as a new article of man ufactnre.

, ABEL T. ATHERTON.

Witnesses ALBERT M. MOORE, LEvI DUMAS. 

